“Brother, you…”
Jiang Huai kept his distance, glancing at Lin Ji, who was being ridden by Hong Shao. After Hong Shao died, Lin Ji’s body trembled, and he quickly withered. Jiang Huai had killed many evil cultivators and understood them slightly.
Lin Ji had likely been controlled by Hong Shao’s蛊虫 (gu worms) and had to obey her unconditionally. Now that the master of the蛊worm was dead, he could not survive either. There was no time for Jiang Huai to save him. The moment Hong Shao died, Lin Ji was completely dead.
He sighed and looked at the main蛊worm crawling out of Hong Shao’s neck. For Hong Shao to use such a method in the late Nascent Soul Stage, this蛊worm must be a valuable item among evil cultivators.
Evil cultivators had peculiar methods. Jiang Huai had no intention of studying this蛊worm. Previously, many cultivators in the Eastern Region had killed evil cultivators and obtained their蛊worms. Driven by curiosity, they were overwhelmed by greed and became new evil cultivators. Jiang Huai took out a Fire Dragon Talisman, injected it with a weak spiritual energy, and flames instantly engulfed the entire cave.
He walked out of the cave. Bai Li felt the heat behind him and looked at him in confusion.
“That woman was Lin Ji’s master, an evil cultivator who practiced with蛊worms. She had just killed those two cultivators – the fat and thin ones – and wanted to kill me, but I killed her. Lin Ji died after she died,” Jiang Huai summarized briefly. Bai Li nodded.
She trusted Jiang Huai completely. At this moment, the two of them waited outside the cave, letting the roaring fire consume everything. After about fifteen minutes, the flames from the Fire Dragon Talisman finally extinguished. Jiang Huai and Bai Li re-entered the cave. Only ashes remained inside. Jiang Huai and Bai Li found the Storage Rings amidst the ashes.
Generally, high-level Storage Rings could only be opened by their owners, but Jiang Huai had means to pry open low-level ones. He took out the lock-picking talismans he carried and affixed them to the four Storage Rings. Instantly, the treasures inside all spilled out.
Jiang Huai did a rough count. The Spirit Stones totaled over twenty thousand. There were also some low-level Spirit Treasures that he couldn’t use, so Jiang Huai didn’t take them. If they were sold, it would be too troublesome to explain if someone recognized them as belonging to their friends or relatives in the future, and they weren’t particularly valuable anyway.
In addition to that, the two of them acquired a total of seven Golden Scale Fruits.
This was the most valuable gain. Jiang Huai’s Immaculate Golden Body had two paths for its tenth level cultivation: one was rapid cultivation, which required Wind Spirit Fruits, and the other was defensive cultivation, which required Golden Scale Fruits. Jiang Huai planned to cultivate both.
Bai Li did not need Golden Scale Fruits, so she gave them all to Jiang Huai.
Besides that, Jiang Huai also found a genuine cultivation technique from the Joyous Union Valley. This technique was not an evil cultivation method. Jiang Huai and Bai Li found a safe cave. Driven by curiosity, Jiang Huai and Bai Li snuggled in the cave and began to flip through this Joyous Union Valley cultivation technique.
“So simple,” Bai Li commented.
“Simple? Some postures feel quite difficult, like this one.”
“Where?” Bai Li said, easily lifting her calf to the side. Jiang Huai looked back; her calf was raised quite high, almost forming a straight line with her other leg. This movement also lifted her skirt, revealing black lace underpants.
He almost forgot, as a Snake Clan member, her body flexibility was top-notch.
“Quickly put it down, that posture is so indecent.”
Bai Li lowered her leg and then reached out to poke Jiang Huai’s arm, rubbing her belly, and looked up at him.
Jiang Huai took out the beef jerky he carried. Bai Li happily grabbed a large handful and sat by the cave entrance, looking up at the illusory moon in the secret realm’s sky, swinging her fair legs. She was still wearing the sling dress Jiang Huai had given her. Jiang Huai came and sat beside her. Bai Li shared some beef jerky with him, and he bit into it as she brought it to his mouth.
He inadvertently glanced back at Bai Li’s face, feeling that her eyes seemed to reveal a hint of loneliness at this moment.
“What? Homesick?”
Bai Li thought seriously, “A little, but not exceptionally so.”
“How long have you been in the Eastern Region?”
“More than four years,” Bai Li replied softly.
She was a Monster Clan from the Western Region. When she first arrived in the Eastern Region, she was unaccustomed to everything, carefully hiding herself, and had encountered danger several times. Compared to Jiang Huai, who often slept soundly on Guanxue Mountain, Bai Li had basically been exploring and cultivating in various secret realms. This was why she had reached the late stage of the Nascent Soul and her swordsmanship was honed through life-and-death battles. If she were in Jiang Huai’s sect, ordinary late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators would not be her match.
“Have you ever thought about going back to see them?” Jiang Huai asked softly.
Bai Li shook her head like a rattle drum.
“No, if I go back now, I’ll just be captured by my clan and given to the Dragon Clan. When I reach the Eighth Realm, then I’ll return, and no one will be able to control me then.”
“That’s good. But don’t you get tired of being constantly on the move like this?”
“I also wanted to go to your sect, but I heard the clan leader has already arrived in the Eastern Region and is looking for me at Ziyun Pavilion. You are too famous in the Eastern Region. Staying by your side for too long will surely lead to me being discovered. Besides, I need to explore more secret realms for my cultivation to advance quickly.” Bai Li chewed the beef jerky in her mouth, looked up at the moon in the sky, and suddenly muttered softly, “It’s a bit cold.”
So Jiang Huai gently embraced her. Her body was petite, making her easy to hold.
“What are the Monster Clans like?”
“Hmm, how should I put it? Very different from your Human Clan. For example, Monster Clans don’t get together because of some ethereal love like in your scripts. Monster Clans generally, as long as you are powerful enough, countless members of your clan will want to be with you, enjoy being protected by you, and then have a bunch of children for you.”
“Monster Clans are generally warlike, so they often fight to the death over minor disputes. Your Human Clan is better in this regard; you mostly argue and fight, but rarely do you try to take the other’s life.”
Bai Li’s small feet under her skirt dangled in the air. Perhaps she felt uncomfortable being held like this, so she shifted and placed both her legs on his lap. Jiang Huai gently held her waist, gazing at the girl’s fair, slender thighs within his sight, and reached out to gently grasp her dangling small feet.
Bai Li looked at him warily, “You’re not one of those weirdos who are interested in girls’ little feet, are you?”
“…I’m not, I don’t, don’t talk nonsense.”
“Then why are you holding my feet?”
“To massage them and regulate your blood circulation,” Jiang Huai said, gently pressing the acupoints on Bai Li’s fair soles with his fingertips. Bai Li’s waist straightened slightly, then quickly softened. She hummed, “It’s quite comfortable.”
The two of them chatted in the breeze outside the cave for a while before returning inside. They almost simultaneously burrowed into the quilt, facing each other. Then Bai Li’s legs rested on his waist. Jiang Huai’s hands had nowhere to go, so he casually placed them on her perky butt.
It was soft.
…
The next day, early morning.
According to Jiang Huai’s plan, they were to prepare to explore the second region today.
Compared to the third region, the vicious beasts in the second region were more ferocious and had higher cultivation levels, mostly in the Nascent Soul Stage, and possibly even vicious beasts in the Nascent Divinity Stage. Fortunately, both of them had taken Breath Concealing Pills, so the vicious beasts they encountered paid little attention to them.
Jiang Huai picked a colorful mushroom. Bai Li curiously asked, “What is this?”
“This is a Psychedelic Rainbow Mushroom, which can be used to refine illusionary mist,” Jiang Huai patiently explained to Bai Li. He also picked two spirit fruits from the roadside and reminded Bai Li, “They are a bit sour, but I think they taste good.”
Relying on his memory, Jiang Huai had memorized almost everything that could appear in most secret realms, making him a walking encyclopedia. Bai Li, on the other hand, was like a “100,000 Whys” person. Bai Li asked questions as they walked, and Jiang Huai answered them.
The first day’s harvest in the second region was quite good. Jiang Huai collected many precious spirit medicines and also saw a pile of withered bones in the second region. They looked ancient, clearly left by the previous group of cultivators who entered Dragon Burial Valley. There were six cultivators in total. Based on the density of the bones, Jiang Huai initially judged them to be late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators. What vicious beast had they encountered that chewed them up?
The two of them walked until noon when they suddenly saw an anomaly in the sky in the distance. A seven-colored auspicious cloud rose to the sky. Jiang Huai’s eyes lit up, and he looked at Bai Li, “Let’s go, the Seven-Colored Lotus is blooming.”
“Seven-Colored Lotus?”
“Yes, the petals of the Seven-Colored Lotus can directly increase spiritual cultivation when used as medicine.” Jiang Huai and Bai Li rushed towards the Seven-Colored Lotus almost instantly. However, Jiang Huai was slightly slower, as he only had the Immaculate Golden Body to support him. When they arrived at the pond of the Seven-Colored Lotus, four cultivators were already waiting there.
Among these four cultivators was someone Jiang Huai recognized.
The corner of Jiang Huai’s lips slowly curved, and he looked at Ji Qingchen in front of him and his gray-robed Dao Protector beside him, slowly saying, “You’re really unlucky.”
Bai Li drew her sword from behind and also smiled, “What a coincidence.”
Jiang Huai sneered, while Bai Li grinned. The ferocity in their eyes seemed to be carved from the same mold. At this moment, they looked more like villains.
Ji Qingchen also chuckled. He was only at the late Golden Core Stage, but his accompanying Dao Protector was at the Fifth Level Transc. Ji Qingchen saw Bai Li in front of him and shamelessly revealed his greed, “Last time you escaped with your strange divine abilities, I wonder what method you’ll use to escape this time in the secret realm?”
The atmosphere instantly became tense. The remaining two cultivators by the lotus pond, however, frowned slightly, “If you have any grudges, take it elsewhere and don’t disturb us from picking lotuses.”
The remaining two were both at the late Nascent Soul grand completion stage, and they were also aging. They were clearly Rogue Cultivators from the Eastern Region.
The gray-robed cultivator glanced at Ji Qingchen, awaiting his opinion. Ji Qingchen calmly said, “You two, get lost. This lotus is not something you are qualified to covet.”
The arrogant expression in his eyes was truly infuriating. Just as the two rogue cultivators were about to retort, the gray-robed cultivator glanced at them and said, “Scram.”
The next moment, he revealed his cultivation at the Fifth Level Transc. The two rogue cultivators shut their mouths silently and turned to leave.
